TheBestTollFree.com Blog

Fred

Thanks so much for your in-depth analysis and reviews of the leading virtual pbx systems. My search has lead me to RingCentral and Virtual PBX. I thought I was finally at a point to make a decision when I came across some rather disconcerting reviews of RingCentral. The reviewers’ claims were related to RingCentral’s reliability.
Specifically, the reviewers on PCMag.com stated they experienced:

- inbound calls going straight to voicemail
- long outages (8+ hours) nearly twice a month for maintenance
- slow and untrained customer service with long hold times
- poor VoIP sound quality (this isn’t an issue for me as I will retain my current VoIP through Time Warner Cable)

The reviews I’m referring to range in date from Nov 2008 to Apr 2009.
It seems as though you’ve had a great deal of experience with RingCentral, so I wanted to ask if you’ve had instances of these issues.

My biggest concern is reliability. In your opinion, would I be better suited going with VirtualPBX for the sake of reliability (assuming both services would satisfy my needs)?

Thank you so much for being willing to take emails!

Sincerely,

Matt M.

Hi Matt,

If it’s the same reviews I’ve read I believe they are referring to their voip technology only and not their virtual pbx technology.  I haven’t used their voip as I prefer the piece of mind of using a landline and cell phone so I can’t speak to the quality of their voip product.  Here is the link to the article I’ve read:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2246090,00.asp

However, I have used their pbx system extensively and have been extremely pleased.  I have never experienced any outages, dropped calls, lost vm, or problems with customer service.  Additionally, I haven’t heard from any users that have had any problems with RingCentral’s virtual pbx system.

What I can tell you is that I believe both RingCentral and Virtual PBX are quality companies with robust features.  With the exception of a few minor differences in features I highly recommend both companies.  You should feel confident that either company will serve you well.

Let me know what you decide and please let me know how your experience has been with the company you choose.

Thanks for the question!

Fred

Found your web site as I was scouring the web for information about setting up a new phone system.  We have had 7 lines on a pbx system…but have been downsizing and only need three lines…and have been looking at ring central (we just signed up for their web fax service) office.  This might be a silly questions, but is their office package just for VOIP phones or can you use all of the features that it provides on land lines.  I am not sure if I am totally sold on Internet phone service for quality and reliability.  I know it will go that way eventually but think I’d feel better (phones are critical to our business) sticking with what I know and trust….but I do want to have all of the great features that ring central seems to provide.

If you use a virtual pbx system like ring central….you pay for the minutes ( or get them in your plan) plus you pay for your long distance with your phone company too right.

As you can see I need help.  Thanks for taking a moment to help out.

Ric

Hi Ric,

Great questions!

The great thing about virtual pbx phone systems is that they integrate directly with your landlines and/or you cell phones.  While some offer VOIP service, they all are meant to be used in conjunction with the phones you already have.  For example:

I have a cell phone, office phone and home phone.  All three are provided service by a major carrier and I pay my monthly fees for service to those companies (AT&T, Verizon, etc).  They each have separate phone numbers.  When I make a regular call on them or receive a regular call on them the PBX service is not involved – everything works as normal.

ENTER THE VIRTUAL PBX

At the most basic level, a virtual PBX system is a toll-free number that routes calls to an existing phone number.  RingCentral is a robust virtual PBX system that will allow you to configure calls to ring to as many numbers as you choose.  In my case I have configured my toll-free number to ring my office phone AND if I don’t answer it within 5 seconds it will then ring my cell phone.  Once I accept the call I am talking to the other party directly and not through my computer or any other gizmo. When you purchase a virtual PBX system you will need to configure it to work with your existing phone numbers.

PHONE CHARGES

With RingCentral I use the minutes provided with my monthly plan.  If I go over those minutes I will end up paying a per-minute rate for each additional minute.  I also pay my regular phone bill for phone service.  HOWEVER, on my landlines, I could choose to have the most basic local service and not long distance.  RingCentral allows me to receive AND place long distance calls with their service without requiring me to have long distance service with my regular carrier.  How can they do this??  With RingCentral you can initiate a long distance call from your computer OR by dialing into your toll-free account.  Over the computer I can designate which number I would like to call and which phone I would like to use.  Then my phone will ring, I answer it and an automated voice says, “To place this call, press 1.”  I press 1 and the phone of the receiving party starts to ring – they pick up and we talk as normal.  If they have caller id, my toll free number shows up on the id NOT my regular phone number.  The process is very similar by calling into your toll-free account and initiating a call from there except you are able to connect the call directly to the party you’re calling since you’re already on the phone.

I hope I haven’t made that more confusing for you!

Good Luck,
Fred

Hi Fred,

First, let me thank you for this site. I have done a lot of research on the type of phone that we need and want. I wanted to get your opinion on the best phone company to go with based on the needs we have below:

• Want the business number to be listed on our cell phones so we can distinguish between
  calls to the business number or our mobile number
• Want to be able to call out from the number
• Want an easy interface for mobile use when not at a computer
• Want to be able to check voicemail from either computer or another phone
• Would like the business number voicemail to be activated even when the number is forwarded to our cell phones.

With this in mind, what company do you think is best?

Thanks for your advice.

God Bless,
Tyra

Sounds like you’re in the market for RingCentral.  Here’s how it breaks down:

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-Want the business number to be listed on our cell phones so we can distinguish between calls to the business number or our mobile number

Easily done for each user profile.  You can set this on a per staff member basis – very slick in case you have someone in your business that would prefer to get caller id for the person calling in.

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-Want to be able to call out from the number

This is a favorite feature of mine that they have.  If you’re at your desk you can use the call controller installed on your desktop to initiate the call.  You punch in the number, choose which of your phones you want to use and hit dial.  Your phone rings, you answer and a voice says, “To complete this call press 1”.  You press 1 and then the phone of the person you’re calling rings but the business number shows on their caller id.  If you’re away from your desk you can call into your account from any phone and use the call-out feature and again, the business phone number will appear on caller id.

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-Want an easy interface for mobile use when not at a computer

RingCentral Mobile allows you to make RingOut calls directly from your Windows Mobile 5.0 device, and provides easy access to your online Messages and Call Log pages.  Also, you can access all of your messages by calling into your account if you don’t have a windows mobile phone.

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-Want to be able to check voicemail from either computer or another phone

No problem either way.

Quote

-Would like the business number voicemail to be activated even when the number is forwarded to our cell phones.

No problem here either.  You just need to set the number of rings to something less than you have set for your cell phone provider voicemail system.  If you don’t answer, the call will go to your business voicemail.  When a call is answered the system allows you to 1 – take the call, 2 – send the caller to voicemail, 3 – transfer the call to someone else.  If you send the caller to voicemail you can listen to them while they are leaving the message (they can’t hear you).  If you want to interrupt the voicemail and take the call you can – very helpful.